A Price To Pay by Joe Halliday

Author:Joe Halliday [Halliday, Joe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-09-07T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty Nine

Noy reflected that, for over two decades of her life, she had never really been cold. There had been no winter in Myanmar, nor in Chiang Rai. In the cool seasons there might be a chill in the air at night. Even that hadn’t been present in Thailand’s south.

True cold had been a recent discovery, made upon her arrival in England. It had been a shock at first, like most things in this strange, neat, quiet, grey country. Since the video - since her past had come rushing back only to crumble instantly before her - she had grown to embrace it. Only the cold made her feel anything.

Noy stood now on the patio outside the living room, hugging one of Granville’s cardigans tight around her. Her eyes were closed to the stark, wintry landscape of the Cotswolds; a name she had given up trying to pronounce. She focused entirely on the feel of the cold against her skin, which was all that could make her feel alive, and tried to think of nothing else at all.

She frowned as she heard the door, and opened her eyes reluctantly to the long sloping lawn and the morning mist over the gentle, green hill beyond. It might have been Anna or Sarah who had come out to check on her, but she knew it wasn’t. She knew it was him. They would have said something, for one thing, instead of standing there cluelessly right behind her.

Noy felt the ghost of a smile approaching her face, and reached back. She found his hand and brought it around to rest on her stomach. As he pulled her close, she put her earlier foolish thought aside. It was not only the cold which made her feel. It was the warmth too, which despite the best efforts of the others at the house only truly came from one place. From the most unexpected place imaginable, she reflected, as she leant her head back against his chest.

“What’s funny?” he asked in Thai.

“You, Farang.”

“I’ve been called a lot of things. Never that.”

“Not in a good way. Not in a deliberate way.”

He grunted, then let the silence stretch.

“But I love you anyway.”

He grunted again, and she dug into his ribs with her elbow. “Idiot. You’re not funny when you’re trying.”

Her blow hadn’t shifted him an inch. His chest was still against her back and now she felt it moving with silent laughter.

“When’s Big Boss’s next meeting?”

“Don’t call him that.”

“That’s what he is, Farang.”

“And who else was going to be?”

“You? You did it for years in Thailand.”

“That was very different. And I hated it by the end. Harry isn’t like that. He’s always been-”

“A natural leader. I know, Farang.” There was another pause. “We spend too much time together.”

“Why?”

“Because I can even tell the differences in your silences now. This is your annoyed silence.”

“I’m not annoyed. It’s just a fact. Harry’s one way. I’m another.”

“Fine. Be like that.”

She felt him move fractionally away. “You’re angry.”

“No,” she said, too quickly.

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